Bernard Wright

All posts tagged Bernard Wright

Tracklisting:
1. After You
2. Who Do You Love
3. Love You So
4. Yo Nard
5. Too Damn Hot
6. Killin’ Me
7. Just When I Thought You Were Mine
8. Brown Shoes[M.A.D. Edition: Bonus Tracks]
9. Who Do You Love (Club Mix)
10. Who Do You Love (Radio Mix)
11. Who Do You Love (Dub Mix)
12. After You (Extended Version)
13. After You (Instrumental)

Jamaica, Queens, New York native Bernard Wright, the young prodigy of his hometown’s music scene, found himself working with heavyweights as Return To Forever’s Lenny White and Tom Browne as a teenager, not to mention cutting his first record as a solo artist, the much heralded ‘Nard, as an 18-year old. He also saw a lot of work as a session player and composer (including one of my favorite songs that got buried in the sands of time, appearing on the Rick James Presents Bobby M album… seek it out). Classically trained, ‘Nard had a ear for not just instrumental jazz and “jazz fusion”, but the contemporary funk sounds of the day, as largely exhibited on his first two solo albums on the GRP label. For his third act, he made the move to EMI/Manhattan in 1985 with Mr. Wright, which further showcased him as a singer first and foremost. Instrumental excursions in the vein of “Mr. Clean” (graciously lent to him by the late Weldon Irvine and turned out on his Funky Beat album) and “Bread Sandwiches” (from his freshman effort) were hardly to be found here; instead, an R&B sound not unlike what you might find on Stevie Wonder’s In Square Circle album from the same year and a street-wise, hip-hop-and-breakdance influenced edge that kind of brings Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” years to mind dominated. Which is not to say that this album is dull compared to his previous efforts; in fact, Side 1 of this album kills.

“After You”, the album’s opener, certainly has that 1984-85 Stevie Wonder sound down to a tee, but it just floats with Bernard’s youthful vocals atop the music. Following this, is “Who Do You Love”, which might be Bernard’s biggest hit (and most signature song) to date, and the sublime “Love You So”, which should have somehow been a B-Side or something, but between the first two songs on this album, that might have been overkill; even as such, “Love You So” threatens to be the best song on the album, for the harmonies in the chorus alone. “Yo Nard” was a B-Side to one of the singles, and much like “Brown Shoes”, which closes the album, it is very industrial, mechanical mid-’80s funk that invites the Herbie Hancock comparisons (especially the latter). “Killin’ Me” is a real killer of a modern funk romp, and it even includes vocoder for added flair under the main vocal. Assisting Wright on this outing, are Lenny White and Marcus Miller, two of his Jamaica Boys comrades; White has songwriting credits on many of the songs collected here. This album, despite the success of “Who Do You Love”, did not fare as well as expected; Wright did not record another album for 5 years following, opting to return to the background as an artist for the most part. It’s a shame, with recent interest in his early material, that his first two albums have seen several CD reissues by this point, but this one escaped the reissue gods (even the digital reissue gods) — perhaps it may be due to the record label switch and Sony/BMG being much more gracious with their back catalog, but this album really deserves another listen, if you’re familiar.

The M.A.D. Edition of Mr. Wright, shared here, includes the 12″ mixes of “Who Do You Love” and “After You”, the album’s singles, as a bonus.